


thecutefactor.tumblr.com

by schweet_heart



Series: Merlin Fic [67]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Banter, Crack, Established Relationship, Gen, Humor, M/M, Pornalot, Sibling Rivalry, Social Media, Teasing, Tumblr famous, remix eligible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 21:51:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11814897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schweet_heart/pseuds/schweet_heart
Summary: Arthur has a secret. Unfortunately, Merlin finds out.Written for Pornalot 2017 Bonus Challenge #2 (Social Media).





	thecutefactor.tumblr.com

When Arthur comes home, Merlin is sitting on the sofa with a slightly stunned expression, the one Arthur has come to associate with being ambushed by Morgana in the early hours of the morning. Since it’s already late evening, however, and there is no Morgana in sight, something else must have triggered this particular reaction, and not knowing what it is makes Arthur feel distinctly nervous.  
  
He scans the flat automatically as he drops his briefcase and begins to toe off his shoes. There’s no luggage in the doorway, so it’s probably not an unexpected holiday or visitor. Merlin does not appear to be injured in any way, thank god, nor does he appear to have broken anything particularly valuable – both of which are scenarios Arthur has returned to before. He _does_ have Arthur’s laptop open in front of him, however, which might be a bad sign – _what if he found the jewelery sites and decided he wants to break up instead?_ – and his hair is all spiky like he’s been running his fingers through it. It makes him look rumpled and adorable, and Arthur partly wants to lean in and kiss him, but he also partly wants to turn around and walk straight out the door.  
  
“Arthur,” Merlin says seriously, not looking up from whatever he’s doing. “We need to talk.”  
  
Arthur’s stomach drops to his now-shoeless feet.  
  
“Can it wait until I’ve eaten, at least?” he asks, rolling his shoulders and willing away the tension. Merlin still looks uncharacteristically sober, however, and he shakes his head.  
  
“We need to talk _now_ ,” he clarifies, and Arthur reluctantly shuts the front door behind him. He tries not to think of it as cutting off his only route of escape.  
  
“All right. Shoot.”  
  
“I want to ask you something,” Merlin says, and when he looks up there’s something in his face that Arthur can’t read. “And I need you to tell me the truth, okay?”  
  
Arthur swallows hard. What has he done? “Okay.”  
  
“Okay.” Merlin just looks at him for a moment, then shakes his head and turns the laptop around so that Arthur can see the screen. “What the hell is this?”  
  
At first, Arthur is confused – he hasn’t exactly needed to browse for porn since he and Merlin started dating eighteen months ago – then he realises it isn’t porn at all. Well, not exactly.  
  
“Um,” he says, embarrassment and relief flushing him hot and cold at the same time. “I can explain.”

Merlin’s lips twitch. “You can explain,” he says, deadpan. “You can explain why you just happen to be logged in as the tumblr site that regularly posts cute pictures of baby animals on my dash?”  
  
“Uh.”  
  
“The one with adorable captions like [this](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/b1/7d/49/b17d498b7e3559d5ba8c0de68e19e1b0.jpg)? And [this](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/44/ee/e2/44eee20ba079f477a87e76b4875de355--little-owls-little-babies.jpg)? The one that has a _[baby sloth](https://goo.gl/images/kzXqtj)_ as its profile pic?”  
  
“Okay, maybe I can’t explain.” Arthur drops to the sofa beside him and flings an arm over his eyes. “It started as a joke, I swear.”  
  
“Let me guess,” Merlin says, and he’s openly snickering now. “You lost a bet with Gwen.”  
  
“Something like that.” Arthur takes the laptop from him and logs out, then closes it and sets it on the coffee table out of reach. “Why were you on my computer, anyway?”  
  
“You left it open on the kitchen table.” Merlin shrugs, looking slightly guilty at this invasion of privacy, but Arthur just rolls his eyes. You’d think he would have known better by now: Merlin is to curiosity like Donald Duck is to no pants and a sailor suit. “So, I take it this is why you didn’t want to give me your tumblr URL when I asked you about it?”  
  
“Could be.” Arthur settles his head on Merlin’s shoulder and looks up at him in what he hopes is an endearing, baby-sloth kind of way. “On a scale of one to ten, how likely is it that I’m going to live this down sometime within the next decade?”  
  
“Hmm.” Merlin pretends to think about it. “I’m gonna go with zero to none.” Then his face lights up, and Arthur winces, bracing himself. “Wait until _Morgana_ hears about this.”  
  
“Merlin,” Arthur says slowly. “I love you, but if you even think about sending my sister that link, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet I will end you.”  
  
Merlin’s hand comes up to pet Arthur’s hair. “Arthur,” he says, with mock solemnity. “Terrible Mal Reynolds impressions aside, you know I would never do that to you. I assure you, as your significant other, I take your right to online privacy very seriously, and I would never divulge the secret of thecutefactor.tumblr.com to your enemies without–– ”  
  
“You already sent it to her, didn’t you,” Arthur interrupts, resigned. "She is literally looking at the website as we speak."  
  
“Oh, hell yes,” Merlin agrees, then shrieks as Arthur beans him with a sofa cushion.


End file.
